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Ex Situ Plant Conservation
The Berry Botanic Garden is a testament to the old adage that good things come in small packages. Tucked away in a lovely estate garden setting, the Garden's conservation efforts are highly regarded nationally and internationally. But with the 2004 publication of Ex Situ Plant Conservation: Supporting Species Survival in the Wild, we have moved up to another level. Published by Island Press, regarded by many as the world's premier environmental press, the book was edited by our Conservation Director, Dr. Ed Guerrant, along with Dr. Kayri Havens (Conservation Director of the Chicago Botanic Garden) and Dr. Mike Maunder (originally at Kew, and now Director of the Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden). A limited preview of the book can be viewed here. Off-Site Plant Conservation Basics Ex situ, meaning 'off site'‚ refers to conservation efforts, such as our seed bank, where plant material is temporarily removed from its native habitat for safe keeping. Still a scientific discipline in the making, the basic outlines of ex situ conservation work are clear, even if all the details are not. An effective ex situ conservation program begins with the collection of seeds or other plant samples. Generally, in the next step seeds are processed and stored in a seed bank as an insurance policy against the loss of the wild population. Ultimately, their value lies in our being able to restore the plants back into their native habitat should the need arise. But knowing what must be done is not the same as knowing how to do it. Step 1. Sampling The Center for Plant Conservation (CPC), of which The Berry Botanic Garden is a founding member, is a global leader in developing knowledge about the effective and responsible practice of ex situ plant conservation. Toward that end, the CPC organized its first international symposium in 1989 to address the issue of how best to obtain a genetically representative sample. Scientists from around the world met to discuss the issues and the scientific foundations were developed for practical guidelines for use in the field. The results were published in the landmark book Genetics and Conservation of Rare Plants. The chapters of this book provide the scientific basis for the appendix, "Genetic Sampling Guidelines for Conservation Collections of Rare Plants", which provides the practical guidelines that have been widely adopted and adapted in plant conservation programs around the world. Step 2. Our Book Our book, Ex Situ Plant Conservation: Supporting Species
Survival in the Wild, along with the other two, serves to
define the field. It fills in the middle piece - what to do between
collection and use - but it also encompasses the broader question
of the role, value and limits of these tools in the wider arena
of conserving our world's botanical heritage. The book concludes with a summary of the major organizations involved with ex situ plant conservation work. There are three sets of guidelines: the first is an updated version of the genetic sampling guidelines. The other two are new and discuss guidelines on seed storage and the maintenance of living, growing collections in an off site setting. We are, of course, very proud of what we have accomplished with the Garden's limited resources, and hope that our contribution proves as useful as the first two books in this series. Step 3. Reintroduction In 1993, the CPC organized an international symposium addressing the final step of ex situ plant conservation: using stored material to reintroduce populations to the wild. The scientific discussions were published in the book Restoring Diversity: Strategies for Reintroduction of Endangered Plants, the appendix of which "Guidelines for a Rare Plant Reintroduction Plan" has become widely adopted and modified for local use throughout the world. Published reviews of Ex Situ Plant Conservation Bedigian, D. 2004. Plant Science Bulletin 50(4):124-126.
Etwell, T. 2007. Natural Areas Journal 27(1): 99-100.
Mehrhoff, L.A. 2005. A means to an end, not an end in itself. Conservation
Biology 19(2):583-585.
Reichard, S. 2004. The Public Garden 19(3):38-39.
Waller, D.M. 2005. Gimme Shelter: Surviving the demographic winter
OR: Backing up our botanical hard disk. Ecological Restoration 23(4):
292-294.
White, P.S. 2005. Building a Noah's Ark for Plants. BioScience 55(6):
532-533.
Wilkes, G. 2005. Vol. 80:122. The Quarterly Review of Biology.
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